Method of making abrasive whekls



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PETER JOEL sTYrrE, or woaCnsTEa, MASSACHUSETTS, AssiGNoa To NonToN Com- PANY, or woRCEsTm,'MAssAcHUsETTs. A CORPORATION or MASSACHUSETTS.

METHOD F MAKING BRSIVE WHEELS..

Application led/Octobr 21,1920, Serial No. 418,582. Renewed January 7, 1824.

To fill who/mit may 00m-em.'

'Be it, known that I. PETER JOEL STYFFE,

a citizen of the United rStates of American, rei siding at` Worcester, in the county of Worcesterand State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methodsof' Making Abrasive Wheels, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact speciiication.

This invention relates to a method of making abrasive wheels, which require a heating y proce in the course of their manufacture,

usually termed firing, and more particurials consist of an abrasive in granular form` and suitable heatV setting bonding materials. The abrasive grain and bonding materials inl the required proportions are mixed with a suiiicient amount of water to give the de sired consistency. The mixture thus prepared is moulded into the form of a wheel, allowed to dry and shaped to provide for the dimensions required. At this stage of the process the wheel, which is only lol sely 3o held together by the dried bonding material and. is in a crumbly, semi-plastic or friable condition, is commonly referred to as a green wheel.

In order to harden the green wheel so as to render it suitable for abrasive purposes, it is necessarythat it' be heated to relatively high temperatures, which may be carried out in various types of kilns. During this operation the bonding material mustl be carried to approximately the melting point, the ex-A act temperature depending upon the materials used, in. order to develop its cohesive and adhesive stren h between the grains. As a consequence, e wheel is greatly softened, and apart from shrinking, itis very apt to deform', which would render it practically useless for grinding purposes.

For this reason'it hasalways been consid-i any stresses and strains being set up within the wheel by others or by an une ual distribution of its own weight. It

@5 been found that even when laid .upon its flat as also side. a wheel may be seriously deformed unless the bed of sand which is commonly used t'o support it is perfectlyv level. And moreover, for the same reason, only a few wheels have been placed uponeach other while in the green conditionor during the tiring op' eration. kAs ay result of these`considerations much space in each sagger and a considerable amount of room in each kiln as a whole has not been utilized, and extra care and work have been required in order to successfully bring the wheels through this operation in a satisfactory condition.

It is accordingly an object of my invention to eliminate the special care which is necessary inset-ting a wheel upon its broad surface and todevise an economical and simple method of setting wheels whereby a greater part of the kiln space will be utilized by the product and a correspondingly increased iiliount of product may be fired in any given W'ith this and other objects in view, as

will be apparent in the following disclosure,

I have devised a method of making and setting abrasive wheels in accordance with the following specification. reference'being had to the `attached drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a single wheel set in a sag-ger .according to l the method hereinafter described;

Fig. 2 is,a perspective view of a group of wheels arranged in a sagger; and. .a

Eig'. 3 1s a longitudinal cross section of a sagger loaded with various types of wheels such as may be grouped in actual practice.

In accordance with my invention, I make a wheel of granular abrasive combined with a. bond such as vitritiable clay, by moulding amixture of these materials andwater in proper proportions into the form of wheel desired, by any suitable method, allowing it to dry and trimming it to the'specic dimensionsfto be proyided. In order to-fire the green wheelthus produced, I propose to support it in the kiln upon a suitable refractory and hold it in an upright position upon its peripheral face during` this operation. For such refractory support I may utilize a. granular material like quartz sand, for example, which will conform to the shape of the wheel, holding it in position and keeping the wheel in shape during firing. If only" one third of the diameter of the Wheel is thus supported, it is usually suicient, but when yit is desired, the granular setting material may entirely surround and cover the Wheel. Groups of wheels may also be set in this fashion, iii which each wheel is placed against the side of another, in clos/e contact, so as to hold it rmlyin place and the group as a whole is kept together by the mutual lateralsupport thus obtained and by setting sand, refractory blocks" or the ends of the container itself. As thus arranged the green wheels are ready to be placed into the kiln and fired according to the methods usually adopted, which are Wellknown in the art.

According to one method of carrying out my invention, which is illustrated in Fig. 1, I set the green abrasive Wheel 1 in a substanv tially upright position upon a portion of its lat peripheral face on Qa bed of granular refractory 2 in a-container. In case it is the only Wheel to be burned it may be held in place it and, if# they are ofthe same size, it isv preferable that they be concentrically-arranged. The third'is placed beside the secheld in ond and so on with. as manyy wheels as there may be s ace for, each being in contact with the a jacent wheels upon its sidesl as in the,row 5. ln case they are of different diameters it is more convenient to place them so that they will be supported 1n tangential alignment upon .the setting material. The groups thus arranged are lace bythe granular refracto .at each end) 7 or by the ends of the container used 6. lf it is desired, a larger amount of the granular setting ,material than thatrequired for the wheels to rest' on it may be added. In the firing of some wheels it is desirable that they shall be protected r, from the kiln gases or that the whole of the eripheral face 'shall' be supported While in t e kiln. This may be done as shown in Fig. 3by completely "surrounding the group,Y of wheels with the granular material 2,fj7 and 8.

lf any space is left in the sagger or other n container after arranging the wheels as detheir scribed,v more wheels may be set into the Bagger about the rst row likewise upon pripheral faces until the sagger is' ore setting material is then filled full.

' in about them until they are nearly covered,

as already described.,V The sagger thus loaded is ready to be placed vinto the kiln for'ring.

This method'of setting results in getting many more wheels into agiven saggerthan .is possible when they aare laid dat; Ac-

maar@ cordingly a much larger quantity of-product (approximately 5 or 6 times) may be .loaded into the same kiln and burned or fired with the same amount of fuel. AIt has, moreover, been found that the abrasive products set and burned in this fashion are not warped so much as formerly, that they have a more uniform coloration anda better structure. These qualities are ob.y tained on account -of the more uniform distribution of heat and. of the'hot gases in the kiln'brought about bythe better dis'- position and arrangement `of the articles themselves. i

It will be obvious that the 'term wheel as .used in the specification and claims is yintended to cover equivalent articles in the abrasive and refractory industry, since it .is immaterial, so far as my method is concerned., whether the article thus made `is used as a grinding wheel, a refractory brick, a non-sli tile or for other purposes.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The 'method of making an abrasive wheel, comprising the steps of supporting the Wheel consisting of granular abrasive and heat setting bonding material u on asubstantial portion of its peripheral ace by a refractory, retaining the wheel in such position'and firing it while in this position to bond the abrasive grains.

2. The method of making an abrasive Wheel,J comprising the steps of supporting the green abrasive Wheel upon a substantialI portion of its peripheral face byra granular refractory material, retaining the wheel in place and subjecting it to the ring operation While in this the abrasive grains.

3. The method of making an abrasive Wheel, Vcomprising the steps of su porting the green abrasive Wheel upon a Substantial portion of its peripheral face by a refractory, retaining it in place by lateral su port to prevent material deformation of t c wheel during tirin and firing itrwhile in this position to bon the abrasive grains.

4. The method of making a number of abrasive wheels, comprising the steps of supporting the greenl wheels upon a portion of the peripheral face of each by a refractory, retaining each side of an individual Wheel by contact with another wheel, holding the groups thus arranged in place andring them While in this position.

5. The method o f makin ceramic articles comprising the steps o forming green shapes of refractory rains united by a vitrifiable lceramic bon, placing` the green articlesin lateral contact, supportin them upon their'. eriphera'l faces on a ed of granular re actory material, holdin the ends of the group by said materia and position, to bond v thereafter firing the articles to vitrify the bond.

6. The method of making abrasive wheels composed of abrasive grain. and bonding 5 material, comprising the steps of placing faee'of each by granular refractory material, surrounding and Covering the group thus 1U arranged with granular refractory material and tiring:r the wheels` inv this position.

Signed at fori-ester, Massachusetts, this 18th day of October 1920.

P. JOEL STYFFE. 

